I contend that the Supreme Court ruling Citizens United vs. Federal Elections Committee (2010) is a prime cause of exacerbating the divide between the rich and the poor in America. In short, it allowed the rich, through large corporations, to buy politicians, who then enact laws that benefit the rich and harm the poor and middle […]
Author: whatimnothearing
‘STANDARDS’ and VYGOTSKY’S HIGH-JUMP
I hear so many educators pontificate about ‘maintaining standards’. In developing countries, there is a cry of, “Don’t water-down the curriculum” from the standards of Harvard, Oxford, and other top Western universities. This attitude usually comes from local scholars who have achieved their advanced degrees from top Western universities. When they return to their home […]
ROCKETS FROM RAFAH
Hamas’ latest actions are consistent with my earlier posts about their motivation. First, firing rockets at Israel is a message – a show of strength, even though the chances that the rockets do any damage are minimal. Hamas needs such bravado to show the world that it is still a fighting force. As I pointed […]
SUDAN? WHO CARES?
Sudan is the second largest country in sub-Saharan Africa, with an area of 1,878,000 km2, compared to Israel at 20,770 km2, (roughly 1% of the area of Sudan.) Sudan’s population is 49.4 million. (Israel: 9.3 million, about 20% of Sudan). Sudan is in the midst of a civil war, in which at least 16,000 people […]
THE PRICE OF DOING GOOD
I was prompted to write this blog by the ads I see asking for donations for aid to Gaza. We keep hearing about the impending famine in Gaza, or lack of medicaI treatment, but I’m not hearing anything about famine among the Hamas soldiers. They are receiving food and medical treatment. It’s pretty clear that […]
ARE MEN SMARTER THAN WOMEN?
This blog is essentially a lesson in Statistics 101 — one that you won’t see in any Statistics textbook. Lesson One in most statistics courses starts with means and medians, while Lesson Two moves on to standard deviations. This blog does almost the same, but starts with a question that many people are asking: “Are […]
PEAK EXPERIENCES AND GROKKING
Have you had a peak experience? Peak experiences have been described by many authors, for example, Kendra Cherry in Verywellmind.com (2023). Fulfillment: Peak experiences generate positive emotions and are intreinsically rewarding. Significance: Peak experiences lead to an increase in personal awareness and understanding and can serve as a turning point in a person’s life. Spiritual: […]
THE PROTESTANT ETHIC AND KARMA
“Power is perceived as a reward for high stocks of merit rather than an outgrowth of a popular mandate.” This quote comes from Sebastian Strangio’s Hun Sen’s Cambodia, in his description of the age-old power structure in Cambodia. A well-connected Cambodian billionaire may have become rich on the back of all sorts of ill-gotten gains, […]
AVOIDING THE NATURE-NURTURE MINDSET
Identical twins have different fingerprints. Let that sink in. They have identical genes and DNA, and yet their bodies are different. Fingerprints are therefore not entirely determined by genes. On the other hand, those twins didn’t learn from society to have different fingerprints. Neither a ‘nature’ theory (i.e. genes) nor a ‘nurture’ theory (i.e. learning) can […]
‘INTERNATIONAL’ HIGHER EDUCATION
A friend of mine once told me, “If a school calls itself an International School, it isn’t.” Developing countries around the world have imitated the Western model of higher education. This imitation can go to extremes, such as the graduation procession of the professors in their caps and gowns (even accompanied by Elgar’s “Pomp and […]